HELP IDENTIFY (AND POSSIBLY SEX) MY RESCUE?! THANK YOU

I was able to rescue this poor creature from a horrible pet shop in my town I've been working to get at least some staff education if not shut down. They had what they told me at first was "some type of Asian scorpion" and THEN proceeded to argue with me when I told them sand and direct heat with no water only a bacteria ridden sponge to drink from, which it was perched on top of when I found it sadly desperately trying to find water, was a sure way to at least make it miserable if not kill it after some time in those conditions. They then said it was on sand because it was "some sort of desert species, like the Asian". I almost blew a fuse but managed first go home and print out a care sheet and pics of my other Asians and some information from this site and returned to give it to them. I returned the next day, and found it in the same condition, the store had a different person managing it so I offered to buy the cocoa fiber it would need and a wider dish to put fresh water, not a sponge, in. She said no need she would take it off the shelf and do it herself. I went back the next day to check and found it had remained unaltered. I lost it and ended up buying it simply to give it a home. My next call was to PETA.

I've one other now, but have had a communal tank of three H. spinifers before. Looking for help sexing and ID'ing. Thanks. I tried to make the photos as quick and painless as possible and didn't want to suspend the poor thing any more than I had to so forgive the pics if they fall short.

Ignorance and stubborn resolve to avoid any ego bruising education leads to this crap in our pet stores

photo dicks_zpscnegjdqb.jpg"/>


ID Heterometrus please?





is sexing possible with these photos? It was sold to me as "some kind of forest scorpion". Heterometrus spinifer I think, but don't know. and as for sex, that is even less obvious from these photos but I'm hoping some can help. I think male, but I hope Im wrong. Females just live longer.


ID species help please and thank you




Chelae and telson close ups for help

This looks like a Heterometrus petersii female to me . I have 2 females and yours looks like them. Black telson with some granulation. Female because of the heart shaped operculum visible even from your photos. In the future, if you need one sexed try and get a close up shot of the operculm which is located between the pectines (the fan like appendages). Hope this helped!

Hello and thank you so much for your response Ranch! An H. petersil huh? I had wondered about it actually being an H. spinifer because of the shape of its chelae. And I did try to get a clear pic of the opec, but I didn't want to stress it out any more than I had to. I thought it might be female at first, but the heart shape wasn't clear enough for me to make an id. I'm so happy to hear this!

I was thinking it was female because of the following reasons: the pectines are relatively short, the sort of heart shaped oper, and this: I have it in the tank with a juvenile (2.5 inch w/o tail) H. spinifer and had them separated with a divider, but it wasn't 10 minutes before the adult was at the divider with claws wedged between the glass and the divider's edge and, this is not a joke nor an exaggeration, the little one had squeezed itself through the maybe half inch if i'm generous space now open to it.

I thought for sure it would get chomped by the new one, the large one, before I could even get to it. However, and this is really cool and also the truth and no exaggeration, the little one approached the now backing up big one shuddering it's tail about over its head, and CLIMBED ONTO THE BIG ONE'S BACK!!! I kid you not! Then it climbed off again and the two went about the tank and the little one was back on top and then off again and when the big one laid to rest in an impression/shallow hole in the substrate, no kidding, the little one SHIMMIED IN UNDER IT and settled in for a minute or two.

They've been together ever since w/o problems YET, but I know how common cannibalism is and I know H. spinifers have aggression issues so I will keep an eye out during this unintended experiment.

Very cool and good news! Usually when they shudder it's a mating ritual. Maybe the smaller one is a male? I have heard that most of the incoming forest scorps are either H. petersii or H. longimanus. Since yours has a blackish telson it could only be either H. petersii or H. laoticus which has no granulation what so ever...hence my reasoning for saying she is most likely H. petersii

Very cool. I believe as you do, that she is an H. petersii. Interesting to think of the two creating a brood. I don't know if that is possible, an H. spiney and an H. petersii mating successfully, but I shall go research it now. Thank you so much for your response. She's a big girl to be certain. I received the H. spiney as a freebie from a dealer when I ordered my H. arizonensis from him and from the looks of those long, slender claws it might just be. I'll post a pic later for those who want to give a go at identifying a three inch juvie

Ranchibi wrote:

Very cool and good news! Usually when they shudder it's a mating ritual. Maybe the smaller one is a male? I have heard that most of the incoming forest scorps are either H. petersii or H. longimanus. Since yours has a blackish telson it could only be either H. petersii or H. laoticus which has no granulation what so ever...hence my reasoning for saying she is most likely H. petersii

Dark telson, no pronounced internal tubercle on the patella........either H. petersii or H. laoticus.


@ kellysaxez, If you want a positive ID, clear, close up pictures of the carapace would be needed.

As for sexing, it's something that in my experience, unless you have a really clear picture, is more accurate when done in person.

The best way to do it is to look at the operculum. Females have a small split at the bottom that males do not. This is true of all Heterometrus species.

The following is a picture by Alex (LXDNG79) that I edited to show this:

Please forgive a new thread but i have searched and searched and maybe am not putting in the proper words but found not one matching thread. My female H. petersii is STINGING HERSELF?!?! I think, she has her tail raised way over her body to the front of her head, she has thrown it to the side under her belly and back over again and is standing with her rump in the air and her tail raised as far as possible. She is out in the open and alone in the tank which has proper humidity and heating so I don't know what could be causing this. I was thinking maybe she was getting ready to give birth as I questioned her possibly being gravid when I rescued her but all videos I've seen that show the birthing process show nothing like this. Any advice? I thought maybe too hot as this can be a symptom of over heating but it doesn't appear the case here as the tank ranges between 80-90. Thanks in advance,

Kelly

Hmm what substrate are you using in your enclosure? I seem to be seeing some sort of sand